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Where is this? Where is that?

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 The history of maps go far back, and if you were to look at an ancient map compared to a modern map of now, the amount of differences is staggering. This doesn't stop the uniqueness that these ancient maps hold. Not only were these maps drafted on paper by hand, with an ink hand, it lets us see how people of old age saw the world. Accuracy between maps is very different also. Modern maps are now exact for the advances in technology with the use of satellite, and many maps nowadays aren't the roll out on paper form, but the kind you can find on an electronic device (GPS). Also over the years, mappers/geographers were able to accurately place the locations of places with the use of longitiude and latitude which back in the day, this wasn't known yet. 
  Try studying the world without scaling it down. Would be kind of difficult. To make it easier for geographers and everybody else, scaling down a map is quite necessary. Scaling the world is basically the shrinking of the world so it could fit on a map. However, not all maps are scaled like GIS, for you can zoom in and out of these maps. When trying to project the world, we know that Earth is a sphere, and the process of projecting it on a map is trying to lay it flat, so you can see everything all at once. However, you may get the times where the scale may be off by a small fractions or the projection isn't clear.

  Ever wondered where exactly New York, New York was? Well, yes it is in New York, but where exactly is it located on Earth? This is where geographers use longitude and latitude to calculate the absolute location of places. On a map you have two lines crossing, one going sideways and one going vertical. The vertical one is longitude, while the sideways is latitude. To find the exact point of a place you would find where there two line intersect, and your answer would be in degrees N, S, W, or E. For New York, New York, it happens to be 40.7127° N, 74.0059° W.

  There are multiple ways to help understand maps, and locations.  The three main ways would be the very known GPS, that you may use very frequently, GIS, and RS. GPS, is the Gobal Positioning System. It is a satellite-ground based system that allows people like you and me help navigate the surface of Earth accurately. For more in-depth information, geographers use GIS to analyze spatial distributed datas, which can lead to them analyzing features and their data which could lead to undiscovered data. Remote sensing is a way to collect information about the Earth's surface from a distance (mainly airborne). 

ABOUT ME:
Michelle Cigolini

I'm the adventurer Michelle Cigolini, and this year we will be back packing through the countries of Mother Earth â˜º

RS Map

Uniqueness

Scaled Down Map

  What makes a place its own place? Well, for starters most places start off with a name, like Boston, California, Australia, and that is what we call toponym. Toponym is the name of a place. In regards to site and situation, lets take Rome as our example. Where the planners placed Rome was in the middle of a network that linked many transportation routes together, making Rome quite succesful. The site of Rome was what really helped it out. Now in regards of its situation it can change as time changes. It is based off the relative location of it's site being its region and world around it. 

  Regions help geographers analyze the world easily. They either determine a region as formal, functional, or vernacular. If they are analyzing a formal region, they are looking at an area that is connected usually by a similar cultural or physical trait. An example would be looking at North America, and wanting to see a Spanish-speaking country, which would be Mexico. Majority of Mexico speaks Spanish so it could be seen as a Spanish-speaking region. For functional regions, these regions are usually defined by sets of activities or interactions that create a connection. An example would be the San Francisco Bay Area. San Francisco influences the smaller areas around it, and it is also an area where many people commute to from other areas for work. Lastly you have vernacular regions. These areas are what we percieve areas to be, our own intellectual understandings. An example would be on how do we seperate the U.S. into different regions. What you may think of the West Coast maybe consist only of the states that border the Pacific, however, someone else may think that Oregon and Washington are Northwest states.  

   Cultures of areas can be percieved differently. Some areas have a standard culture which is what you call a culture trait. In America, we are all about freedom, and independence. Many of our ancestors who came to America came with a "live free or die" persona about them, which is still a live today. You then can have a culture complex, which is a similar trait many cultures may have, but how they excercise it or percieve it may be different. Herding is a culture complex. You have people in East Africa who have their herds in order to obtain a certain diest of consuming the blood and milk, but in Europe, people herd to obtain milk, and produce dairy products.
   The placement of Los Banos determines how it interacts with the other areas around it. The site of Los Banos has made it an agricultural town. Also, being located in the valley, Los Banos is surrounded by a lot of farming ground, which is good for the many farmers here. The situation around Los Banos makes Los Banos a commuter town also. Being between two major cities (San Jose and Fresno) many people travel through Los Banos. Not only this, Los Banos is a town where many people commute to other towns on a daily basis. 

Formal Region

Functional Region

Vernacular Region

Changes can be either on global or local scales. Global scales is usually when something occurs in one area, and spreads and affects many other areas also on a world-scale. Local scales is usually dealing with changes that happen in a community that does nothing when it comes to the bigger picture. Now, because China has gone through a stock market crash jut recently, not only did China suffer, many global companies has suffered. Many stocks global countries owned were devalued by $4 trillion, and many countrie's revenue dropped at least 10%, and that is what you would call a global scale change. 

  There are 3 ways to show distribution across space, and they are through maps. You have the choropleth map which is a map that is shaded different colors in proportion to the measurement of the statistical variable being displayed on the map. Next you have a thematic map which is a map that portrays a particular theme which can include: physical, social, political, cultural, economic, sociological, agricultural, or any other aspects. Lastly, you have an isoline map which is a map with continuous lines joining points of the same value. They are good when representing the peaks and valleys of distributions. You also have density, concentration, and pattern. Denisty is how much something occurs in a particular space/region. Concentration is how often/the extent of a feature spread over a time. Pattern is arrangement of objects over a space.
   Culture is the heart of human geography. Geographers not only want to study the landscapes, so on and so forth, but also how cultures affect patterns and landscapes. When an area is identifiable for a single attribute, this is known as a culture trait. When two areas share the same trait but treat it differently, that is known as a culture complex. When ideas, peoples, or goods move across a space, this is a result of cultural diffusion.

   The amount of time it takes for a cultural triat to be assimulated and adopted into another place depends on time and distance which is what geographers call time-distance decay. There are times where a trait will be tried and pushed toward to in a place but cultural barriers propose to be an obstacle for those ideas or innovations. There are three different types of diffusion. Expansion diffusion is when a trait starts in a hearth, and while moving outwards, and diffusing into other areas, it remains strong where it began. Contagious diffusion is when all places/individuals adjacent of where the diffusion is to take place is affected. Lastly, there is stimulus diffusion. This diffusion is usually not readily or directidly accepted however, it still has an impact by influencing for other things to occur.
  Nowadays, calling a family member in Mexico has been nothing but a simple task. With the improvements in technology, people can communicate at a higher, faster speed rate than in the past. However, this still doesn't hide the fact if you are very far from someone, the chances of interaction betweem the both of you narrows completely, making it hard. As mentioned before, time-distanse decay is an example of this.  

   

Cultures and Interactions 

Sustainable or Not?

   When it comes down to sustainability, there are three pillars to address. You have the social, economic, and enviornmental pillars. The social pillar, is you, and you as in the people on this Earth. This pillar is focused on balancing the needs of an individual, but also being well and keeping harmony indefinitely. The economic pillar is focused on using natural resources to its fullest ability, but also helps aquire a monetary value through a exchange in a marketplace. You have to use resources responsibly in order to keep a funtional profit coming in. Lastly, you have the enviornmental pillar. The enviornmental pillar is focused on finding ways to make responsible decisions that will reduce an negative impact on the enviornment, and the well-being of humans. 

   Some physical systems are non-living and they can be grouped into 3 categories which are social, edaphic, and climatic. Social includes things such as land use, water resources. Edaphic includes things such as nature and soil. Climatic include things such as sunlight, humidity, temperature, and the atmosphere. 

   In order to have a biosphere, and a thriving Earth, there has to be an abiotic system. The biosphere which is basically all-living organisms need the non-living systems in order to live. Take for example the atmosphere, which is a abiotic system, us living cratures (people/animals) need the atmosphere in order to live. Just like water, animals need water, which is non-living to drink, and stay alive. Plants take the soil's nutrients, and they make food using the sunlight from the sun. All of these are ways the biosphere and abiotic systems interact with eachother.

  Looking at southeren Louisiana and Netherlands, you may think to yourself, some areas are very similar. Which is very true. The ecosystems in both areas are similar, yet they are both very far apart from eachother. Both areas are very wet in some places. Many swaps, bayous, and marshes scatter areas of southeren Louisiana. While in the Netherlands, the upper region is very wet also. About 13% of Netherlands is tidal flats.
  

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